After much prayer and discussion, I have come to the decision to suspend the operation of Damascus Road Ministries‘ camps and conferences. My decision is based largely in part to my role as Executive & Worship Pastor at Washington Avenue Church. The ministries of DRM require a great deal of time to plan and promote and I am impressed that the work God has called me to as a pastor must supersede the work we were doing through Damascus.
I am completely at peace with this decision, though I am saddened when I think of the people we will not see as regularly. God purposed this from the start. DRM has been an incredible experience and I rejoice when I think of all the people I will see in Heaven who met Jesus at one of DRM’s camps or events.
I do not have the words to express what your prayers and support mean to me and my family. I ask you to continue to remember us now as we constantly seek to live life totally surrendered to His call and His work.
I have some exciting news to share with everyone! This past Sunday, I began officially serving as the Worship Pastor at Washington Avenue Baptist Church. This is a “majorly” exciting time for my entire family. I am going to share some insights in the near future on how God put this together in my life and the life of the church, but for now, let me just say that this was probably the clearest and easiest decision I have ever made in ministry. I appreciate your prayers as I seek to serve my Savior to my greatest potential.
Without doubt, the question I am hearing the most from people is “What does this mean for Damascus Road Ministries?” The short answer is that this is greatnews for DRM! Camp Damascus and the Damascus Fall & Winter Conferences will continue to grow and be the feature events for the ministry. In fact, the quality of content and the overall impact of these ministry events should increase. My focus, as well as the focus of our other DRM staff will be focused entirely on these events, rather than on my itinerant schedule.
Washington Avenue is completely behind Damascus Road Ministries! Since this has been my family’s home church, the staff, leadership, and the people support the mission of DRM 100%! This church really “gets” Kingdom focused work and I am honored and encouraged by the show of love and support by this Body.
The second most frequent question I am being asked is “What can I do?” That’s easy. Continue to do the things you have done to this point:
Pray – This is the most vital element of support this (or any other ministry) receives.I am so encouraged by the cards and emails I receive from those of you who faithfully pray for me and DRM. Please don’t stop! You can add my additional mission to your list.
Volunteer- You guys that volunteer your time and talents to this ministry are priceless. You are the reason we are able to provide high quality, evangelistic ministry events without cost being a barrier for a student to come. Thank you and please continue to serve when and where you are able.
Support – Our budget has not changed – it has simply restructured. With my day to day involvement decreasing, the need for quality and gifted staff has increased. We appreciate your continued financial support today, as always.
Thanks for the prayers and the love many of you have expressed recently. As always, I am doing my best to serve an AMAZING Savior with my whole heart! Until next time…
We just got our new promo video for the ministry and I am so pumped! This is a great video for two groups of people. First, people who have no exposure to Damascus Road Ministries or our events can get a sneak peak at what some of our events look like. You can tell that we have a lot of fun and honor Jesus in all we do! Second, for those groups who have been with us at one of our ministry events, this video reminds us of the great times we had together – but more importantly it is a reminder of the work God did in our hearts and lives during that experience. It reminds us that the same God who was with us during that time is the same God that Saul met on the road to Damascus, and He’s the same God who is with us today! Right now. This very minute. That’s pretty AWESOME! Anyway, I’m trying the video piece on the new blog and we’ll get it posted on the website as soon as somebody can figure out how! Big “ShOuT OuT” goes to Kala Morris for putting this video together. Kala, you’re awesome and you really should get a flood light installed behind your house. It’s just scary! Watch the video below:
Well, we made it back from camp and I am now awake and able to post an update for everyone.I want t o say thank you to everyone who prayed for us while we were away.Your prayers were needed and God answered them.In spite of several obstacles, God did some amazing things during Camp Damascus 2007.Let me try to describe some of the camp’s experiences.
When we arrived at camp, we discovered two primary cabins that did not have power due to a storm the previous week.One of these cabins was mine, which also happens to be the cabin we use to set up our office for the week.We also discovered that the new ice machine that was supposed to arrive last week was not there yet so we had to scavenge ice from different parts of the camp.The guys from the park started working on the power situation the next day and in the course of trenching to repair one problem, they cut the main water line coming into the camp.This was HUGE!!!The camp was instantly without water.You can’t function without water.A lot of things you can skimp on, but water isn’t one of them.We were over on the other side of the park for a few hours while they fixed the water issue.All was restored and camp went on.The next day the guys were back on the power issue.It was restored by the end of our third day at camp.They then moved on to the ice machine which, of course, caused a new set of problems when the water pipe burst when they were trying to connect it to the new machine.Once that was fixed, the discovery was made that the power outlet would have to be changed since the new machine had a different plug.I honestly don’t know when we actually had a functioning ice system.
There were other little issues like power to other cabins and a couple of incidents with bats in cabins, but I just want to communicate the major challenges that we faced and yet somehow SURVIVED it all. I guess it was really fitting that our series for the week was “Survivor: Student Edition”. We talked about how we “Survive” the challenges of life.We were reminded that we are more than conquerors through Christ and that Jesus promised us we would have trouble in this world, but not to worry because He had overcome the world! There is no question that there were a number of challenges that we faced this week and I am absolutely convinced that all the powers of Hell wanted desperately to frustrate what God wanted to accomplish in the lives of those present.Never underestimate the power of earnest and fervent prayer!
In spite of all adversity, God reached down in the midst of the chaos and reminded us all that He is a God who desires for EVERYONE to have a relationship with Him!This past week at camp, 29 young people invited Jesus to save them and became a part of God’s family forever!This is why we do what we do.We love to have fun and enjoy all the activities that go on at our camps and conferences, but this is the reason we do any of it.We praise God for moving in this way and just allowing us to witness it.Thank you for your prayers and support!
Registration for Camp Damascus 2007 is currently open. The deadline is March 31. If you or a friend need the sign up materials, you can download them from the website at www.damascusroadministries.org. We are looking forward to a great group this year and can’t wait to see you! Later – Chris
Posted by Chris Lewis 